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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Thanks so much Farm Girl, CasInItaly, Jim and SwissMs for your support. Youre right, Jim, it feels like a momentous step since I’ve been confined to playing at home up to now. The great thing about the performance class that motivated me to try for it is, once you get in, you can take it forever – one lady has been taking it for 17 years (ever since the teacher started teaching it). I’m also taking two other classes, one voice. Amazing how this all worked out. I had tried to take college music classes before but something always interfered with my even taking one. Now all of a sudden I’ve got three, when I really need to keep myself occupied.

I look forward to hearing you all play at the ecital. Farmgirl, it will be fun to read about your experiences with your class and see your progress, Jim I always enjoy your performances. Cas it will be nice to see you do jazz, I’m really looking forward to it, and SwissMs hearing you always makes me picture a sublime vista.

Well I had a relatively good lesson today considering the unwieldy R hoof. Teacher passed me on the Vivace and Snowflake Rag and wants me to start on Canon in D in Alfred's #2. I don't really want to do it but I guess I will try. Said I could start on the "Glad Cat Rag" in Faber's 3B if I wanted to do something in addition to Canon in D that wasn't classical. I had hoped we could stay in the Faber Series for awhile but looks like were going to do both concurrently.

While I can appreciate listening to classical piano, it's not something I desire to play very much. Still glad to have passed off the others already.

And just out of curiosity: which three measures do you consider the most difficult ones in the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata? I'm rather curious to know whether they are the same three measures as my 'most difficult three'.

For me it is meas. 56,57 and 58. Getting the notes, voicing, and dynamics the way I want them (all at the same time, anyway) has been a challenge. It is a very beautiful phrase and really sets up the ending to sound great.

I had a good lesson today too. I played the troublesome three measures for my teacher and flubbed it the first time but nailed it the second. And I got compiments on my progress with the Beethoven Minuet and Trio. Lastly, she played three pieces for me and I chose one to learn for the Spring recital in May.I'm pretty stoked right now.

Judging by the number and the 'angriness' of the various pencil markings on my score, I would say that my teacher and I both agree that the three measures I had the most trouble with were 35, 36 en 37.

But I have to admit that measure 57 took quite a while to sink in, too.

Carol - Melody is a little finger twister isn't it? Actually whenever I've had any Schuman to work on I've found it always harder than it looked.

For me, it's not so much a finger-twister - there are a couple of places where the fingering took a lot of repetitions, but I got it eventually. It's more of a brain-twister. There are a few places where you have to use the finger next to the obvious one; the obvious next finger leads straight to a dead-end. So it's remembering which finger to use that's giving me problems. I guess this is partly due to my somewhat deficient reading skills, & I'm working on that, too.

Beethoven Minuet and Trio. Lastly, she played three pieces for me and I chose one to learn for the Spring recital in May.I'm pretty stoked right now.

I'll bet, I'm just beginning to do a few classical pieces and I do admire those who can play classical pieces and enjoy doing so. I just don't want to play them and can't seem to enjoy learning them. This may change if/when I learn a few. I'd rebel big time but I commited to try a bit in the 2013 Goals thread.

I finally got my wrist problem diagnosed. It:s not tendonitis; it:s a small ganglion cyst. It feels very satisfying to have a definite diagnosis, even though I don:t know what it means for continuing with piano. The doctor said I should be able to play, so I:m hesitantly excited, if that makes sense. I have a lesson on Thursday. I can;t wait to put the left hand to all those right hand things I:ve been learning!

p.s. I have to admit, I stayed away for awhile because it was depressing to read about everyone else:s achievements when I was unable to play. But looking back through the last couple of pages, it makes me really happy to read about everyone:s accomplishments! well done, everyone :-)

MaryAnn, 久しぶり。しんぱいしてました (it's been a long time. I started getting worried).It's great you can play again!

Ragdoll, happy birthday!

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

I finally got my wrist problem diagnosed. It:s not tendonitis; it:s a small ganglion cyst. It feels very satisfying to have a definite diagnosis, even though I don:t know what it means for continuing with piano. The doctor said I should be able to play, so I:m hesitantly excited, if that makes sense.

Isn't that the thing that was traditionally cured by a sharp blow from the family bible?

I finally got my wrist problem diagnosed. It:s not tendonitis; it:s a small ganglion cyst. It feels very satisfying to have a definite diagnosis, even though I don:t know what it means for continuing with piano. The doctor said I should be able to play, so I:m hesitantly excited, if that makes sense.

Isn't that the thing that was traditionally cured by a sharp blow from the family bible?

I cheated by using a wooden mallet and it worked. This was many years ago and the gangliom is still gone. THAT got me exited :-)

Hmmm. I swear I saw a cake. Am I having a vision? Not good. Anyway the point is I'm glad that you were born. For that matter I'm glad everyone was born. So let's celebrate it anyway.

_________________________
Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

Andy - that sounds like a great experience with the choir - good on you!

StarrKeys, thanks for the encouragement --- are we going to hear you at the e-cital? Hope so!!

Joyoussong Carol - I think it is nifty we're both working on Melody. I don't sound like the person in the video either.. maybe someday! That would be nice eh?

MY AOTW is to have recorded my recital piece.

I also had a very good lesson - my teacher was very pleased with my jazz and also with the progress on Schumann's Meloday and my Handel. If I get the last two into really good shape for next week, I'll be starting on the Heller piece. I think the Heller will be for May's recital..... we shall see!I'm also going to start adding more scales - F maj and Bmaj (all those sharps lol) are on the menu. I am pretty sure I did actually work on both of them before but it has been along time so.... here I go.

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

I have three achievements this week: the first, my lesson two days ago was nice. My teacher allowed me to stop studying the Czerny study, and assigned me the next one in the book; fortunately it seems easier, until the teacher makes a more difficult version for me! And, second AOTW, I played again the Chopin prelude I badly messed up last time and it was really better.

Last achievement, I had another crazy week (work, family, everything) but I managed to practice (sometimes only ten minutes) every day.

Last achievement, I had another crazy week (work, family, everything) but I managed to practice (sometimes only ten minutes) every day.

Hey, congrats! That's fantastic.

Me, I will be without a piano for about three weeks longer than planned. I need to find a good samaritan who's willing to let me play theirs for a few weeks! When I do, I guess that'll be my achievement of the week.

I finally got my wrist problem diagnosed. It:s not tendonitis; it:s a small ganglion cyst. It feels very satisfying to have a definite diagnosis, even though I don:t know what it means for continuing with piano. The doctor said I should be able to play, so I:m hesitantly excited, if that makes sense.

Isn't that the thing that was traditionally cured by a sharp blow from the family bible?

That's what I was thinking too.

A friend of mine received that diagnosis and the doc examined his hand while replying kindly to a question. Mid-sentence, the doc quickly and efficiently slammed the patient's hand into the table, smashing the cyst. I guess the doc saw no need for that picky little 'informed consent for treatment' thing. Anyway, it worked. Problem solved.

Edited by malkin (01/30/1309:11 PM)

_________________________Ladies and Gentlemen: This is not a competition, merely an exhibition. No wagering please.

OK, this is not the AOTW I had planned, but it got me pretty excited so I guess it should count.

In an effort to keep my commitment to MOYD 2013 in spite of my continued lack of a piano, I went into a piano store and pretended to be interested in buying a piano (I conveniently forgot to tell them that, actually, I've already bought from a different store, I just don't have the piano yet). For clarity's sake: I am not particularly proud of my duplicity, and it's not that part that got me excited.

In the process of pretending to look around, though, I sat down at a 1990 Fazioli (after dutifully having tried and rejected a few brand-new Yamaha uprights), which I loved instantly, and which will also be forever out of my price range. But I played the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata on it, right then and there, with the sales rep practically looking over my shoulder, and guys, I NAILED it (well, for my standards, anyway). No mistakes, good expression, halfway decent timing. NO NERVES! It was heaven.

I should have had my iPhone out recording, but I didn't want to be -that- obvious. Shame, though. I could have gotten a pretty good recital recording out of that.

In the process of pretending to look around, though, I sat down at a 1990 Fazioli (after dutifully having tried and rejected a few brand-new Yamaha uprights), which I loved instantly, and which will also be forever out of my price range.

Ooooh! A Fazioli! Lucky you! At the piano store where I use practice rooms once per week they have a gorgeous Fazioli in the grand room. My teacher keeps telling me I should go in and play it, but the 6 digit price tag always backs me off! Maybe I will get brave enough one of these days!

I don't think piano stores are concerned how many pianos you try. Piano's, after all, aren't something most people buy on impulse. You could probably go back half a dozen times to the same store & try out different ones, or the same one over and over, & it would just be evidence that you're serious about buying eventually.

Wow, guys. This avalanche of enthusiastic reactions is almost better than the AOTW itself! Almost .

Originally Posted By: torquenale

Saranoya, very cool! How many piano store are there where you live?

I see where you're going with this ... . There are three, that I know of. I'm thinking I might go to one of the other ones soon, to get some more heavenly 'practice time'. But after that, I'll have to find a different solution to my no-piano problem, because I already played a variation of this trick on a sales guy at the third store. After my grandfather let me know that he had gone and bought a Boston baby grand, "and how was I going to pay for it", I was in a bit of a bind. Before I told him OK, I'll pay you back, I wanted to know that I was actually going to be halfway satisfied with the piano I'd eventually end up with.

It was, therefore, a little more legitimate than today's foray into the piano store, in that I really did want to try out a specific make and model (albeit after purchase, not before). But at the time, I told the guy that my grandfather "was considering" the purchase of this model, and that he had asked me to go find one and try it out (which he had not, since it would have been rather pointless: the Boston was already bought and paid for by then).

That sales rep did invite me to "come back any time" if I wanted to play the piano some more. But that was before I had all of the Moonlight movement one in my fingers, and I was kind of embarrassed about showing up at a piano store without something "serious" to play. (Burgmüller definitely does not count. Neither does Mozart KV 2, or Händel's Impertinence, or any of the other pieces I had in my repertoire then). So I didn't go back, and the guy (who had encouraged me to decide quickly, in order to benefit from an end-of-year sale) must have thought that my grandfather and I had decided not to go for it.

Originally Posted By: torquenale

Did you take the score with you or played by memory?

I am effectively incapable of playing from a score. Anything I can actually *play*, I play from memory. Before then, what I do isn't really playing. It's chopsticks, while I decipher the score measure by measure.

Originally Posted By: torquenale

I wish I were able to do the same, there is a big piano store in my town, with a lot of beautiful grands...

Isn't that the thing that was traditionally cured by a sharp blow from the family bible?

A friend of mine received that diagnosis and the doc examined his hand while replying kindly to a question. Mid-sentence, the doc quickly and efficiently slammed the patient's hand into the table, smashing the cyst.

Hmm..... I wonder how they invented that treatment and in what time. Maybe in a time every problem was solved by smashing it. That would make sense.

MaryAnn, glad that you're back. I hope you'll heal from it!

Saranoya, congrats on your performance in public!

My aotw is very small, but I'm very happy. It's about two measures where the rhythm goes from (right hand against left) 3 to 2, then 2 to 1 and then to 3 to 1. I couldn't make the switch in rhythm with my right hand. But the solution was easy. In stead of focussing at the problem, the rhythm of the right hand, I needed to focus at the rhythm of the left hand. That was really an aha moment.